A court in Oslo has sentenced Chandrasekhar Vallabhaneni to 18 months and his wife Anupama to 15 months in prison. The judgment will be contested in a higher court by the couple, it is learned.

THE COURT ruling came after the Indian couple in Norway were arrested on charges of 'gross or repeated maltreatment' of their child. For threats, violence or other wrong to children is treated as serious offence in Norway under section 219 of the penal code.

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Reportedly, Norway police arrested Chandrasekhar, nine months after the child complained to his school teachers that his parents were threatening to send him back to India for his ‘misbehaviour’ in the school bus. According to the Norway police, the medical examination of the child had revealed burn marks and scars on the child's body.

Back home in Andhra Pradesh, kin of Chandrasekhar had appealed to the state and union governments to intervene in the matter but to no avail. Refusing to intervene, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had stated a few days ago that this was an issue that related to a private citizen and to the law of Norway.